Reflection
by The Dark Enchantress Ruhi
Summary: I show not your face but your heart's desire. Three people who stumble upon the Mirror of Erised discover what they most desperately want. Part 3 of Harry Potter One Shot Series.


**Three people's hearts' greatest desires.**

* * *

 **Harry**

Wandering around, Harry has by now realized, helps calm him down and think better than staying put. Hence, the "Chosen One" as he is now called, is wandering his school again, trying to think, seeking peace, when he stumbles across the mirror of Erised in an abandoned classroom. He stands in the doorway for a while, trying to resist the urge to gaze into the mirror as he had done his first year.

He has been feeling hopeless these days, lost. Dumbledore has given him a simple task, but Slughorn refuses to relent. He thinks of his mother in those moments, about what his professor had told him. She'd know how to get it out of him. His parents, if they'd been alive, would've looked out for him. But they aren't here, because Voldemort is.

The war has never seemed so real before, but now that it is knocking at his doorstep, Harry is terrified. He thinks of Ron and Hermione. They'd insist on helping him in his hunt for horcruxes. But could he put the two people who were his first and best friends in such danger? He'd never be able to forgive himself if something were to happen to any of them. He is many things but he isn't delusional–This is war, and he cannot allow people to get hurt for him. He has never felt so alone in his life.

He decides to look into the mirror finally, one last time.

His mother and father are standing beside him smiling, as they were five years ago. He is taller than his mother now, almost his father's height. Their hands are around him, but instead of the unknown members of his extended family, it is Sirius who stands behind James, grinning at him in the way only he could. 'Hey Pup' he mouths to him, and Harry tries and fails to smile.

He sees another figure come into the frame as he tries to blink back his tears, and has to look around to see if she's actually there. The mirror Hermione stands beside his mirror self, and he watches as she pulls him into a hug and then holds his hand warmly, and then Ron is there too, standing beside Sirius and grinning at him knowingly. There is suddenly a painful lump in his throat.

He puts on his cloak and rushes out of the room.

* * *

 **Hermione**

Hermione is not one to wander around after curfew on her own, but that particular night, she feels sleepless and lying on her bed just staring at the ceiling feels suffocating so she decides to roam around for a while.

Her mind is moving at a much faster pace than she herself is, thinking of the events of the week gone by and that which undoubtedly _will_ come sooner or later. It is all so much more real now. Dumbledore is dead and they have so much to do. There is so much that they should know that they never thought to ask.

She'd never really thought of Dumbledore dying. But now that he is gone, she doesn't expect to have to wait for long before the ministry is brought down, and then all will be chaos. And then there are Horcruxes to think about. They don't even know where to look for them, and Harry…Oh, Harry would probably tell them that they didn't have to do this. She shakes her head softly at this. As if she'll let him go through all of it alone.

She really isn't watching where her feet are taking her or being half as discreet as she should have been, so much so that she comes face to face with Professor Mcgonagall, who is looking at the grounds with a sorrowful expression. She turns to look around at her and, much to her surprise, gives her a nod before resuming her earlier position. Her face looks troubled, but Hermione knows better than to ask.

Perhaps she is supposed to go back to the tower after this meeting, but she is too troubled to try to go back to sleep. She continues on her way until she finds herself near where the library is situated. It is locked, so she decides to explore the classrooms around it instead, and comes to a stop before an elegant mirror placed inside a classroom just a little off the entrance to the library.

She is surprised, at first to see Harry and Ron with her, and then she looks at others behind them. The Weasleys, Tonks, Mad Eye, Lupin, even Sirius. The ones standing nearest to her best friends, however, are her parents, smiling at her proudly. She turns around instinctively, but, as she had suspected, she is quite alone. She turns back to the mirror, and she can just tell, by their jubilant and carefree expressions, that the war is over. Or maybe there wasn't one to begin with.

She looks at the image more closely, notices Harry's arm around her and closes her eyes for a moment, wanting to ingrain the picture inside her head. She tries thinking of a world without Voldemort. Harry would not be in the spotlight in that world, just like he wanted. He'd have his parents, too, and they probably wouldn't be in mortal danger quite as much, she supposed. They might not even be friends. She inhales sharply at that, and opens her eyes. She looks at the happy picture one more time before leaving.

* * *

 **Ron**

It is in his fourth year that Ron realizes that he does not, in fact, envy Harry. The things his best mate has been through are not something he'd wish even on his worst enemy. It is just that he is insecure, he always has been, even before he had met Harry.

The incessant need to _Prove Himself_ to the world has been ingrained in him because he has always lived under the shadow of his older brothers. And to have been one amongst so many children didn't help. There was only so much attention his mother could give him while also simultaneously trying to keep Fred and George from burning down the house.

He had grown up to Bill being a prefect and then a Head Boy, Charlie being a Quidditch Captain, Percy being yet another prefect and Head Boy and Fred and George being… well, Fred and George. All of them Clever and well liked. He wants to mark his path like they had done, to step out of their shadows. It doesn't help that he acts before thinking. And what he had done to Harry in their fourth year, giving him the cold shoulder like that, saying things he obviously shouldn't have… It had made him realize just how dangerous his insecurity was. He had spent the rest of his fourth year and his fifth and sixth consciously keeping himself in check.

So, when traversing a corridor on the fifth floor late one night he comes across another abandoned classroom with only a few benches and a large mirror that looks quite familiar, he is both surprised and not-so at what he sees when looking at it. He looks the same as he does now. The same age and height, but also different.

Harry and Hermione are both beside him, and they are all grinning an easy grin, as if sharing some inside joke. He looks closely and realizes that what is different is that the Ron peering back at him has no restraints. He stares at the mirror for a moment before the idea settles in his stomach. This Ron has no restraints because this Ron is sure of himself. He knows at that very instant that his heart's greatest desire is to overcome his insecurity. He knows in the next that it is true.

* * *

 **A/N:** I really hope Ron is not too OOC, but if he is, do tell me.

I'm sorry about any grammatical errors that might have happened, I couldn't find anyone to beta read. If anyone can recommend someone who'd be willing to beta read my fics that'd be great.

Anyhow, tell me how you like it :)


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